Activision’s Tippl: There can’t be ‘Franchise Fatigue’ with innovation

Can there really be too much iterations in a franchise? According to Activision COO Thomas Tippl, there is a way to balance things out in terms of dealing with franchise fatigue. The answer: innovation.

 

 

 

 

 

Can there really be too much iterations in a franchise? According to Activision COO Thomas Tippl, there is a way to balance things out in terms of dealing with franchise fatigue. The answer: innovation.

 

 

 

 

“[Franchise fatigue] is something that I have not bought into,” said Tippl in an interview with Gamasutra. “I think it’s an excuse for lack of innovation. If you have a great franchise and you stop innovating, then yes, you will lose your fan base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“If you think about it, if you have a large fanbase around the property, [it gives you the opportunity] to communicate directly with them, to really understand what they love about the game and what they’d like to see in the game. You can market it much more strongly than new IP.”

 

 

 

 

He then goes on to explain why the Call of Duty franchise remains as steadfast today as it was the first time it came out. “There’s so much more tha tour Call of Duty fanbase wants that we are not providing yet, that we see many, many years of innovation ahead of us.

 

 

 

 

When people come up and tell me, ‘how can you possibly make another Call of Duty,’ I always tell them that I used to work for a company that every year had to figure out how to make a white shirt whiter – and [Procter & Gamble] have been doing that for 35 years with a product like Tide.

 

 

 

 

“You’re telling me with all the opportunities we have, and the technologies and the content… and all the different stories, the characters that we can develop, that we can’t innovate on a franchise for 10 years? Give me a break. Then we’re just not doing our job.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Via [Gamasutra]

 

 

---

 

Related Articles:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops E3 2010 gameplay footage
• Activision shows off more gameplay for Call of Duty: Black Ops
• Analyst expects Black Ops to sell more than 10 million units